State and local regulations about e-bikes and e-motos hinge on 28 mph limit

Posted on by

As Illinois communities responded to the increased use of e-bikes and e-motos, the Illinois legislature now has plans. Many of these regulations depend on a particular speed: 28 mph. Here is how the Illinois regulations are described:

Photo by Patrick on Pexels.com

If the bill passes, anyone who wants to ride an e-bike or e-moto capable of traveling over 28 mph would be required to have a driver’s license, title, registration and insurance. Those higher-speed devices would be treated more like motor vehicles, and riders would be barred from operating those higher-speed devices above 28 mph in bike lanes, paths and similar spaces. Most importantly, riders of most micromobility devices would need to be at least 16 years old. In short, this bill would set something Illinois has lacked for years: clear, statewide expectations for devices that have rapidly become part of everyday life.

What is special about 28 mph? It is not a common speed limit. Residential or local streets might have 20, 25, or 30 mph speed limits. Is it really safer to ride at 27 mph compared to 29 mph?

This particular speed limit is related to the three classes for e-bikes. Here is one description:

There are three designations of ebikes in America—Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3—that are defined by a small handful of characteristics. While most ebikes have a maximum power output of 750 watts, it’s a combination of a bike’s top speed and how that speed is achieved that puts each ebike into its correct class. The three classes also determine where you can ride your ebike…

With a top speed of 28 miles per hour, Class 3 bikes are the most powerful of all. However, given their speed, most states impose heavier restrictions on where you can ride a Class 3 ebike. Like any bicycle, riders can operate a Class 3 ebike on roads, in traffic lanes, and in road-adjacent bike lanes. However, Class 3 bikes are typically prohibited on greenways, paths, and in parks.

These are federal designations for this particular consumer product.

It would be interesting to see if such regulations change in the future to better match regular speed limits.

And how much will police or devices now track e-bike or e-moto speeds via radar to check on that 28 mph limit?

Understanding your community in an era of available data

Posted on by

Let’s say you are a resident in a community and want to know more about it. Who lives near you? What businesses or industries are local? What events are happening nearby? How is land used? Where are all these things on a map? What are residents thinking?

Photo by Connor Scott McManus on Pexels.com

There are numerous online tools that can help you answer these questions. Here are ones I rely on quite a bit:

  1. QuickFacts from the US Census. Put in a geography and you get basic information about the community, often based on the American Community Survey. Median household income? Racial and ethnic demographics? Total employment among businesses? It is all there in one table (and you can compare multiple communities at the same time).
  2. Local government websites and data portals. You might be able to access datasets, maps, regulations, plans. Communities will tell you their history while also pointing you to where you pay your utility bills.
  3. Google Maps can help you visualize where things are. Major roadways, waterways, railroad lines, green spaces – these are fairly visible. How is land used: for single-family homes, denser developments, parks, or something else? What information Google chooses to highlight is less clear; why pick out the coffee shops versus displaying the locations of public libraries? Use Google Streetview to mimic driving or strolling around. Additionally, review information, user photos, and more is attached to the maps.
  4. Find a local media or information source. This may no longer be a local newspaper or TV station. It could be Patch, a volunteer run website, a social media group, a subreddit. There are ways of getting consistent information and discussion even if the discourse is fragmented across platforms.

For more options (including IRL), see earlier posts on knowing your community (post #1 and post #2),

How to stop your home from flooding (when the built environment makes it hard to avoid)

Posted on by

These five tips for homeowners can help them avoid flooded properties. I have done a few of them myself.

Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

But there is only so much an individual homeowner can do if the built environment makes flooding more common. There are numerous causes: development on top of certain kinds of land and soils; numerous hard surfaces like roads; inadequate drainage at construction or more development after initial systems were put in; low-lying places compared to higher ground nearby. Having water in one’s house is no fun as it requires cleanup and repairs that can require a lot of time and money.

Several pictures used in this story seem to make this point. How much can be done for a house if the street right in front of the home is completely flooded? What can be done if roadways are shut down because of water? Where is all the water supposed to go?

These tips can help but a broader neighborhood or community-wide approach is needed to really address flooding issues. When new development is proposed near housing, NIMBY responses are common and water and flooding issues are often part of this. There may just be some truth in these concerns; changes to land might affect drainage and/or strain existing mitigation efforts. Water has to go somewhere and one homeowner may not really be able to address what is a larger concern.

Deannex a property, seek to have it annexed a short time later

Posted on by

Development plans can push property owners to either disconnect or connect their land to a local municipality:

Photo by Charles Criscuolo on Pexels.com

The annexation is proposed ahead of a potential redevelopment of the roughly 67-acre site, which is on the southeast corner of Higgins and Bartlett roads. A Rosemont company called the Opus Group wants to purchase the site and construct a light-industrial complex.

The proposal is similar to the one Texas-based Hillwood Development Co. put forth in 2022. Allstate petitioned for disconnection the following year, and it was granted by a Cook County judge in February 2025.

But Hillwood is out of the picture now, and the Opus Group has a contract to purchase the land, Vasselli said….

“Once developments de-annex, they seldom come back, but I believe there is renewed interest in South Barrington because of what we have been able to accomplish in recent months,” McCombie wrote. “There is a desire to be a part of the exciting growth and development of our community.”

Annexation is connected to the oversight municipalities exert over land as well as what services might be available for the land. What is interesting here – and unique, as mentioned several times in the article – is that one developer wanted to be outside the suburban municipal limits and the next one wanted to be within the local boundaries.

Suburban communities generally like annexation. They then have more oversight over the land and can fold the development into their comprehensive plan and land use goals. They can benefit from the tax revenues the property provides. They can tout the new development taking place in their community.

It is too bad we do not hear more from the two developers. How did the first see disconnection as advantageous? Why does the second want to be annexed back into the community? How do these decisions affect their bottom line and how they use the land?

This is also a reminder that municipal boundaries are not always fixed. Some sprawling communities and regions have this happen regularly as new development continues. Some communities may have little room to do much given surrounding municipal boundaries. But even in these cases, there could be parcels of land that individual property owners might want to annex or deannex at different points.

I went to the local suburban megachurch satellite location (as many do)…

Posted on by

I recently was in the suburbs of a major city on a Sunday morning and looking for somewhere to go to church. I used this megachurch database, searched a few congregational websites, and ended up in a satellite congregation. It was a newer building amid newer subdivisions and green spaces. The local pastor and band led worship: there were lights, fog, and people moving to the worship music. The sermon came from the home church with a charismatic pastor who shared from personal experience and a number of Bible passages on how to counter social and cultural pressures and instead follow God. People were friendly. I could text to give or to ask for more information.

Photo by Caleb Oquendo on Pexels.com

Even as the median congregation size in the United States is around 70, there are many satellite church locations in the United States. Researcher Warren Bird recently shared this:

The congregation I went to was part of the 416 mentioned above: numerous campuses scattered throughout a portion of a metropolitan region. In the service, they shared Easter Sunday figures across their locations. They had big crowds – possibly several multiples of normal Sunday attendance – and a number of baptisms. They want to reach their communities for Jesus. There are regular connections to a main campus but also a good amount going on at each satellite.

It is helpful to keep this in mind when considering the large number of evangelicals or conservative Protestants in the United States. Some of those folks go to small congregations. Others go to big churches or to satellites of those big churches who have lots of attendees, lots of programs, and numerous locations throughout regions. The big church with satellites is not the only model of congregational life but it is a popular and visible one.

New Jersey home prices rise more than other states

Posted on by

Housing values keep going up in New Jersey:

Photo by Garrison Gao on Pexels.com

Home prices across the New Jersey climbed nearly 6% in February compared to a year earlier, the sharpest gain of any state in the nation, according to figures released this week by Cotality, a property data firm. 

The national average over that same stretch is only half a percent. The Garden State did not just beat the field. It lapped it. 

Why the bigger rise in New Jersey?

The state’s dense corridor of finance and fintech firms, pharmaceutical giants and biotech campuses has kept demand humming even as buyers elsewhere pump the brakes. 

Cotality analysts specifically flagged New Jersey’s high-wage employment base as a structural driver of housing demand, one that insulates the market from the volatility hitting Sun Belt states hard right now. 

I might put it another way as someone who studies suburbs: the state is positioned between two major metropolitan areas, New York City and Philadelphia. This both provides access to jobs and opportunities there but includes its own large collection of suburban jobs and opportunities across numerous communities that have different industries and populations. The fate of these suburban possibilities are tied to what happens in these big cities but it also has some life of its own.

Also worth noting: with these housing pressures, New Jersey is home to a number of affordable housing conversations and decisions over the years.

Age for first-time homebuyers keeps ticking up

Posted on by

Two recent reports suggest first-time homebuyers in the United States are older than in the past:

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Pexels.com

In November, the National Association of Realtors reported that the age of first-time buyers has incrementally increased since 2010, when the typical age was 30, to hit a record high of 40. In the meantime, the median age of repeat buyers, those who already own a home and are buying their next home — also hit a record high of 62.

Redfin researchers used a different methodology and found that while the typical home buyer is older than in the past, their average age for a first-time home purchase is 35…

The percentage of home buyers purchasing a home for the first time dropped to 21 percent in 2025, according to NAR, compared with about 40 percent before the Great Recession. Factors in that delay include high home prices, a lack of affordable homes, relatively high mortgage rates and student loan debt.

Another factor is the difficulty saving money for a down payment. First-time home buyers typically make a down payment of 6 percent to 10 percent of the purchase price, but many believe a 20 percent down payment is required.

Even with some broader conversation about the need at a national level to address housing, why aren’t more politicians and leaders tackling this one? Those with power could help provide opportunities for younger adults and potentially receive their votes. Many communities say they want to have housing where their younger adults can stay or young professionals could live but is this actually possible in many places? And what would it take to get there?

To address this would require working with a lot of potential levers. Builders and developers could be smaller and cheaper starter options. Local communities could approve or incentivize units for younger adults. The federal government could help. Consumers could push in particular directions. And so on.

At the moment, the issue appears to keep getting worse and unless there is some major action, my guess is that it will continue to go this way.

First suburban referendum to ban future data centers

Posted on by

Voters in a Milwaukee suburb supported a local referendum to ban more data centers within the community:

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

City residents who sponsored the voter initiative said it marks an escalation of tactics to oppose the massive facilities needed to power artificial intelligence and could inspire activists in other towns to follow suit….

The Port Washington referendum doesn’t actually derail the city’s controversial data center campus — a $15 billion, 1.3-gigawatt facility from tech giants OpenAI and Oracle that’s one of multiple “Stargate” AI megaprojects the companies are planning with the Trump administration’s support. Instead, it takes aim at future projects by requiring city leaders to obtain voter approval before awarding developers lucrative tax incentives…

The referendum could be frozen within days as part of an ongoing court challenge. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce, a regional business group, filed a lawsuit in late January seeking to block the measure on grounds that it violates state law…

Residents in Monterey Park, California, will decide in June on a measure seeking to indefinitely ban new data center construction within city limits. In August, Augusta Township in rural Michigan will decide whether to override a local ordinance that cleared the way for a data center project. And in November, Janesville, Wisconsin will vote on a measure that could scuttle plans to redevelop a former General Motors assembly plant into an AI factory.

This is a different way for communities to address data centers: put a referendum on the ballot and let local residents express their opinions through a vote.

Perhaps this context is unique. The article suggests some local officials opposed the ban. Can suburbs pass up on major developments that could be local revenues and jobs? It sounds like residents in this suburb were responding to a big data center already in the works that they did not like. Perhaps residents did not feel that local officials represented their interests?

At the same time, it takes planning and work to put together referendums for local residents to consider. Port Washington is not big – over 12,000 residents – but there are calendars to be followed to get placed in front of voters and signatures that are needed. Then there is public discussion. Then there is the vote and the aftermath as different groups consider their options.

Of course, a primary recourse residents have if they do not like local decisions about data centers is to vote accordingly the next time local leaders are up for election. Those opposed to or in favor of data centers could make this a major issue in upcoming elections as smaller communities grapple with what data centers might bring.

Suburban HQ building vacant for 18 years to be used by a small Bible college

Posted on by

A long-vacant former corporate headquarters in a Chicago suburb will soon be home to a Bible college:

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

Dayspring’s journey is a tale of three homes, a decades-old contact and a generous gift. And it’s led them to the long-abandoned CF Industries corporate headquarters adjacent to the Heron Creek Forest Preserve near Route 22 and Old McHenry Road.

Empty and vandalized over 18 years, the 120,000-square-foot, brick-faced concrete and steel “miracle” building will be revived, revamped and modernized with an expected move in fall 2027…

That will allow the college of about 80 students to accommodate twice as many, double the current square footage and be closer to the Quentin Road Baptist Church in Lake Zurich, where the college found a home in its early years…

Church leaders met with residents in neighboring subdivisions to discuss the vision and hosted an open house and barbecue before making the case to the village’s advisory plan commission and zoning board of appeals. Approval was unanimous and the village board followed suit…

Long Grove also is benefiting from the move. For the college’s soon-to-be neighbors, having an academic institution with a 24/7 presence will eliminate trespassing and vandalism concerns and greatly reduce calls for service to the Lake County sheriff’s office, said Long Grove Village Manager Chris Sparkman.

Having studied religious buildings, I find this story interesting on multiple levels.

First, suburban communities tend not to want to have vacant buildings. Structures should be productive, preferably producing tax revenue and/or contributing to day to day life in the community. A former headquarters building is an opportunity for another business to make it their own.

Second, having a vacant suburban building for 18 years in a wealthier suburb is a long time of vacancy. Even if a suburb might have wanted a corporate taker for this building, they might be happier after 18 years to have any productive use. As the story suggests, the community is glad someone will be taking care of the property and the approvals process went smoothly.

Third, religious groups are often willing to use all sorts of buildings and properties if they can adapt it. This is not a religious congregation – though it is a school connected to a particular congregation – but they are taking a corporate headquarters, cleaning it up, and plan to make it a religious school. Also noted in the story: acquiring the corporate headquarters required Hobby Lobby purchasing it and giving it to the congregation/school.

In the end, the suburb has a tenant for a long empty building, the former property owner was able to sell the property that sat for a long time, and a religious congregation/school has a new suburban home.

AI to help me find an expensive home that is within walking distance to Whole Foods

Posted on by

What kind of potential homebuyer is Homes.com aiming to reach with their AI assisted search (“Homes Ai”)? About 20 seconds in, the video includes this line:

Photo by Kelly on Pexels.com

Narrow it down to homes walkable to a Whole Foods.

According to a few search results, there are over 500 Whole Foods locations in the United States. Who tends to live within walking distance of these locations?

The video keeps going with the theme. After seeing some expansive interiors and a gourmet kitchen with the AI chipping in that it has white quartz countertops, the final home shown is $1.425 million.

The homes depicted appear to be in single-family home, if not suburban, neighborhoods.

So it appears “Homes Ai” is aimed at a wealthier potential homebuyer with particular lifestyle interests? Could “Homes Ai” help people search for reasonably priced housing or affordable housing?